The NHL is continuing to pour out more news confirming a date for the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery, which won’t be as exciting for the Montreal Canadiens as hoped.
It seems as if today is the day for the NHL to reveal as much as it can ahead of the next coming weeks. Earlier, Phase 2 of the ‘Return to Play’ plan was released detailing parameters that could see the Montreal Canadiens, as well as players around the league, begin to use their practice facilities in no more than groups of six. These practices/workout sessions aren’t mandatory, but they are a way for players to get back on the ice and prepare for the eventual return to hockey (whenever that will be).
Phase 2 is set to start in early June, while it was recently announced that the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery will be taking place at the end. June 26th, to be exact.
This comes from TVA Sports reporter Renaud Lavoie who tweeted out the information shortly after the news of Phase 2 was revealed.
Hearing June 26 is the date that we should have the NHL Lottery Draft. No dates on the NHL Draft yet.
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) May 25, 2020
The draft now being at the end of June proves how dynamic all of this is going to be. Initially, there were plans of the Draft Lottery taking place at the beginning of June, but clearly things have changed. However, I still don’t understand why the lottery is being rushed like this, especially when the date for the actual draft hasn’t come out yet.
Another thing fans aren’t privy to are the official rules of the Draft Lottery. Earlier, there was an understanding that the format would have to be changed. This came from both Elliotte Friedman and Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, who mentioned in articles the league’s pessimism for having the lottery before the end of the season as a team could, theoretically, make the playoffs and win the lottery.
Therefore, measures were planned to be put in place to ensure that the Detroit Red Wings – who are last in the NHL – could do no worse than second overall. At the same time, both Friedman and Johnston shared information that the other bottom ten teams couldn’t move up more than four spots.
In a normal scenario, the Montreal Canadiens would have the eighth overall pick with a 6.0% chance of moving up to first. However, based on those initial discussions, the worst they could do is up to fourth overall.
We don’t know whether those rules will be in effect for the Draft Lottery. The 24-team format was in the works for weeks and had several renditions before it’s current model was decided on. Perhaps the same rules apply where the Red Wings will get either the first or second-round pick while the remaining six teams who didn’t make the playoffs have some sort of lottery for third.
Maybe they re-create the usual lottery system again with adapted odds that favour Detroit heavily but still only include the seven teams who are out.
Something will need to be done, considering the lottery will take place while hockey won’t be played for months. And if the NHL wants to avoid absolute chaos, they’ll take care when planning for this.
The Montreal Canadiens are in an interesting spot even though the Pittsburgh Penguins are their opponent in the play-in round. They could be bounced out immediately or go on a heater and last longer than many thought. Those kinds of scenarios are what the league is going to take into account.